Not at all. I rather saw myself having a great career in advertising, but there were impulses within me that made me take a different path. When my last employer, an advertising agency, went bankrupt, I started by creating a blog to meet my needs as a wife, mother and athlete frustrated with the food supply. But I thought big. I was inspired by American success stories, like that of Julia Powell, who produced the film Julie and Julia.
I’m a publicist, so from the start I wanted to create a strong brand personality with a touch of humor. So, Labrie became Labriski, because there was a little international touch and Madame gave the aura of a Polish Madame who bakes cookies every day for her grandchildren who come home from school. Besides, everyone thinks I come from Eastern Europe, but I come from Saint-Agapit de Lotbinière!
I watched it several times with my mentor. It’s destabilizing for some to see that society is changing, that we are evolving and that there are new models that are performing wonderfully. It goes with the power of digital. I said to myself: why couldn’t an entrepreneur who chooses a business model with a super light structure have a turnover of 10 million per year!
In recent years, I had regular employees and I had the impression that they were sitting on their paychecks which came in every week.
I now choose to surround myself with people, it’s a bit cliché to say, but who have heart in their stomach, because I see a difference in proaction. When you are a small SME playing in the big leagues, you have no choice but to be constantly on the alert.
I have a light structure with a team, but which is not on my “payroll”: accountants, tax specialists, operations assistants, administrators, three communications subcontractors and seven partner factories with which I am not associated who handle the distribution of products in Sobeys warehouses.
Since I didn’t study food biochemistry, they are experts who make sure my recipes meet my challenge: having fresh products without preservatives with weird names. Developing healthy, healthy and good-tasting foods is an art.
Eat well, sleep well, make a plan and execute it. That’s all. On my site, my motto is: eat better, be better, live better. There is currently an overconsumption of refined sugar which causes all kinds of diseases. Just by cutting them, we increase the quality of our energy. When I became a marathon runner, I was very hungry all the time and didn’t want to put anything into my body. What we put in our body is not just food, it is fuel. There is a direct impact on your good mood, your performance and your way of seeing things. With my date puree as a substitute for refined sugars, I see that I contribute to improving the sustainable and overall health of Quebecers, because we add fiber to our diet.
Because I didn’t have anything cooked in my mouth. I didn’t have parents to open doors for me. I am the demonstration that no matter what background you come from, if you believe in your dreams, take care of yourself and work hard, it is possible. It would have been easier to “chill”, but I didn’t feel like dreaming about my life, I wanted to make my life a big dream. Sorry for the cliché. We all have this power. We have to stop complaining and embody the person we want to become, regardless of our ambition. Leadership is having confidence in our ideas and being so convinced of them that we succeed in convincing others to get on board with us. We stand out a little from the crowd. Sometimes we are the little black duck. But we must remember that this little black duck becomes a majestic swan.
